Sne Masuku

Sne Masuku

In a concerted campaign to discourage members of the public from reporting false cases, police in KwaZulu-Natal have had eight people convicted for defeating the ends of justice this year alone.

The eight were found to have laid false cases of hijacking, rape and armed robbery.

Provincial SAPS director Bala Naidoo said yesterday that false cases were on the increase and police would not tolerate people who wasted state resources and time.

The court ordered a man who had laid a false hijacking case to repay R25000 to the SAPS for expenses incurred in the investigation.

"The so-called victim had laid a case of hijacking in September, claiming that his Nissan Sentra had been hijacked by three armed men near the Butterworth Hotel in the city centre," Naidoo said.

Investigations later revealed the man was with female companions when the car was stolen. He was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, suspended for five years.